Add and manage products in WooCommerce

Add products to your WooCommerce shop: a simple product with one price, a variable product with sizes or colours, and digital downloads. You'll also learn how to organise products with categories, keep track of stock and update many products at once.

• Applies to: WooCommerce on any Host Dada plan
• Time: about 10 minutes per product
• Difficulty: Beginner

Before you start

• WooCommerce must be installed (see Set up your online shop with WooCommerce).
• Have your product photos ready. Square images of at least 800 × 800 pixels look best in most themes. Compress them first so pages stay fast (see Make WordPress faster).
• Check your units under WooCommerce → Settings → Products: Weight unit (usually kg) and Dimensions unit (usually cm).

Product types at a glance

Add a simple product

1. Start a new product. In WordPress, go to Products → Add New Product.
2. Name and describe it. Enter the Product name and a full description in the main editor. Further down, the Product short description appears next to the price on most themes; keep it to two or three lines.
3. Set the price. In the Product data box, leave the type as Simple product. On the General tab enter the Regular price (£). To run a sale, enter a Sale price (£) and, if you like, click Schedule to set start and end dates.
4. Set up stock. On the Inventory tab, add a SKU (your own product code) if you use them. To have WooCommerce count stock down as orders come in, turn on stock tracking, enter the Quantity and decide whether to allow backorders. Otherwise, set the Stock status by hand.
5. Add shipping details. On the Shipping tab, enter the Weight and Dimensions and choose a Shipping class if you use them (for example "Large items"). See Set up shipping zones and rates.
6. Suggest related items (optional). On Linked products, add Upsells (better alternatives shown on the product page) and Cross-sells (add-ons shown in the basket).
7. Add photos. In the right-hand column, click Set product image for the main photo, then Add product gallery images for extra angles. Fill in the alternative text for each image; it helps blind customers and search engines.
8. Choose a category. Tick one or more Product categories, or click Add new category. Add Product tags if they help customers browse.
9. Publish. Click Publish, then View product to check it in your shop.

Add a variable product (sizes, colours and so on)

1. Create the product as above, but in the Product data box choose Variable product.
2. Add the options. Open the Attributes tab. Add an attribute such as Size with its values (for example Small | Medium | Large), and make sure Used for variations is ticked. Repeat for other options such as Colour, then click Save attributes.
3. Create the variations. Open the Variations tab and click Generate variations to create every combination. Remove any combinations you don't sell.
4. Price each variation. Expand each variation and enter at least a Regular price. You can also give each one its own SKU, stock quantity, weight and photo. A variation without a price can't be bought.
5. Publish and check the options appear as drop-downs on the product page.

Sell a digital download

1. Create a simple product and tick Virtual and Downloadable in the Product data header.
2. Add the file. Under Downloadable files, click Add File, give it a name and upload or choose the file. Optionally set a Download limit and Download expiry.
3. Publish. Customers get a download link in their order email and in My account once payment is complete.

Manage many products at once

• Bulk edit: in Products → All Products, tick several products, choose Edit from Bulk actions and click Apply to change prices, stock status, categories or shipping class together.
• Import from a spreadsheet: click Import at the top of the products list to upload a CSV file. Download WooCommerce's sample CSV from the import screen and follow its column layout.
• Export: click Export to download your products as a CSV file, which is a useful backup before big changes.
• Stock alerts: under WooCommerce → Settings → Products → Inventory, set who gets low-stock and out-of-stock emails, and whether out-of-stock items stay visible in the shop.

Troubleshooting

A product doesn't appear in the shop

Check that it's Published (not Draft), has a price, and isn't out of stock while out-of-stock items are hidden. In the Publish box, check Catalog visibility is set to show it in the shop. Then purge the CDN cache under Edge Caching in the Control Panel.

A variable product says "This product is currently out of stock and unavailable"

Usually one or more variations have no price or no stock. Open the Variations tab and check every variation has a Regular price and is in stock.

The CSV import fails or misses products

Save the file as CSV UTF-8 from your spreadsheet program, check the column headings match WooCommerce's sample file, and import a few rows first. Very large imports are more reliable in batches of a few hundred.

Product images look blurry or cropped

Upload larger, square images. Your theme controls how they're cropped; look under Appearance → Customize → WooCommerce → Product Images if your theme offers it.

Last reviewed: October 2026